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GEOMAGNETIC
STORM--MORE TO COME? The solar storm of August
1st sent two CMEs toward Earth. The first one arrived yesterday,
August 3rd, sparking mild but beautiful Northern Lights over
Europe and North America (see below). The second CME is still
en route. NOAA forecasters estimate a 35% chance of major
geomagnetic storms when the cloud arrives on August 4th or
5th. High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert
for auroras.
NORTHERN
LIGHTS: A coronal mass ejection (CME) hit
Earth's magnetic field on August 3rd at 1740 UT. The impact
sparked a G2-class
geomagnetic storm that lasted nearly 12 hours--time enough
for auroras to spread all the way from Europe to North America.
Travis Novitsky sends this picture from Grand Portage, Minnesota:
"The Northern Lights made a pretty good
showing last night!" says Novitsky. "I was lucky
to catch them during a break in the clouds. I took all these
pictures between 11:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m local time using
my Canon
5D Mark II."
"Wow!" says photographer Tony Wilder
of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. "It was a sweet surprise
to catch the auroras
over Lake Wissota. The Northern Lights never get old."
With the possible arrival of a second CME on
August 4th, tonight might be even better than last night.
Imagine that as you browse
the gallery.
NEW IMAGES:
August
Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Augusts: 2009,
2008, 2007,
2006, 2005,
2004, 2003]
COMPLEX
ERUPTION ON THE SUN: On August 1st, the entire
Earth-facing side of the sun erupted in a tumult of activity.
There was a C3-class solar flare, a solar tsunami, multiple
filaments of magnetism lifting off the stellar surface, large-scale
shaking of the solar corona, radio bursts, a coronal mass
ejection and more. This extreme ultraviolet snapshot from
the Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the sun's northern hemisphere
in mid-eruption:
Different colors in the image represent different gas temperatures
ranging from ~1 to 2 million degrees K. Watch
the movie. Some parts of the sun heat up during the eruption,
other parts cool down. These are priceless data for solar
physicists working to understand the inner workings of solar
storms. Stay tuned for more movies and analyses in the days
ahead.
Solar
Eclipse Photo Gallery
[NASA: South
Pacific Eclipse] [animated
map]
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